The Ohio State Buckeyes and Virginia Tech Hokies are playing to finish off the NCAA college football Week 1 schedule and the matchup is live on TV from ESPN and starts at 8 pm ET from Lane Stadium in Blacksburg and this comes as OSU is the top ranked team in the nation coming into the season.
The Buckeyes were the unanimous number one team in the preseason poll and coming in, both Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett have the chance to play some quarterback. The team won the first College Football playoff last year and now they have the chance to get things going early against the Hokies. Last year the loss against the Hokies nearly spelled the end before it began for Ohio State, but they were able to rally back and make it all the way.
The loss came in the second matchup last year and Ohio State was able to recover and now they are looking to get the win this time around. OSU won the last 13 games it played last season and they now have a pretty decent schedule moving into the end part of the season. The team plays Hawaii, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan next and then they will have Indiana, Maryland and Penn State next.
Ohio State avoids some of the tougher teams in the conference and they have Rutger, Minnesota and Illinois before finishing the season against Michigan State and Michigan. Those could be the toughest games for the team after this matchup and that gives Virginia Tech a tough task on Monday night. The Hokies have a tough defense and a solid quarterback in Michael Brewer and that gives the team a fighting chance.
Ezekiel Elliott comes in as a Heisman candidate and he is one player to watch after the way he played down the stretch last season. Elliott and Jones were not on the radar at this game last season and now those players could be key to getting the win against the Hokies. Jones dealt with a migraine during the week, but he is expected to be fine for the matchup. Brewer had 2,692 yards last season and threw 18 touchdowns and the Hokies are expecting big things from him.
Check here for the Ohio State and Virginia Tech schedule.
Ohio State comes in at number one and while the team has not won a title in the seven previous times they were top ranked, this team should be very good. Urban Meyer has once again turned things around quickly and now OSU is trying to be the first team to win a title starting the season at number one in a decade.
Last season the Buckeyes went 14-1 and the team finished the Big Ten undefeated with an 8-0 record and took the conference title. Ohio State won in the College Football Playoff against Alabama before taking down Oregon to win the National Championship game. The Buckeyes went through QB injury issues last season and Cardale Jones got a chance to play after JT Barrett went down. Braxton Miller is now playing wide receiver and both Barrett and Jones are battling to start.